# CEU Accounts and Python Environment Setup > Source: > Published: 2026-08-28 12:51:51+00:00 Welcome. Before teaching starts you need a working Python setup and additional software installed on your own laptop. This page walks you through it. **Do this before the setup session.** Work through it on your own, and test it. Whatever is still broken, We will help you fix during that session. **Time needed:** about 45–60 minutes, most of it waiting for downloads. **If you get stuck:** try to resolve it with AI first. If that does not work, write to Ulrich Wohak [WohakU@ceu.edu](mailto:WohakU@ceu.edu) and you will get help during the session. **Any operating system is fine.** Windows, macOS, and Linux are all fully supported. You are installing four things and creating one account. The terminal (also called the command line, Terminal, or PowerShell) is a window where you type commands instead of clicking buttons. Most of this page consists of commands you copy and paste into it. It is already on your computer — you do not install it. If you are not familiar wirt the Terminal application, go through these Youtube videos first: - Windows: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gpls24j5Gw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gpls24j5Gw) - Mac: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XgBd6rjuDQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XgBd6rjuDQ) In this doc you will see instructions like this: ``` uv --version ``` That means: type (or paste) it into the terminal, press Enter, and read what comes back. [`uv`](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) is the tool that installs Python and every package a course needs, at the exact versions that course was built against. It is the only tool you need for this. **Do not use `pip`, `conda`, or Anaconda for these courses.** `uv` gives each project its own private set of packages, so they cannot collide. Python is the language you will write in. **You do not install Python yourself.** `uv` downloads the correct version per project. Git records the history of a project: every change, who made it, and when. It runs locally on your laptop and lets you copy a project down from the internet, which is how you will get every course's materials. GitHub is a website that hosts Git projects. Course materials live there, and you will hand in some assignments through it. Git and GitHub are related but not the same: **Git** is the program on your computer, **GitHub** is the website your computer talks to. A **repository** (or *repo*) is one project's folder on GitHub. **Cloning** a repo means downloading your own copy of it. [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) is the editor you will write and run code in. It also opens *notebooks* — documents that mix code, results, and text — which is the format most course materials use. You need one account: 1. **Sign up** at[github.com/signup](https://github.com/signup) . Pick a username you are happy for an instructor to see. If you already have a GitHub Account, feel free to use that one; no signup needed in this case 2. **Add your CEU email** as a second address, at[Settings → Emails](https://github.com/settings/emails) , and verify it. This is what links your account to the university. 3. **Turn on two-factor authentication** at[Settings → Password and authentication](https://github.com/settings/security) . GitHub requires it.**Save the recovery codes somewhere safe** — students lock themselves out of their account mid-term every year, and recovery codes are the way back in. 4. **Apply for the Student Developer Pack** at[education.github.com/pack](https://education.github.com/pack)*as soon as you have your CEU ID in hand* . It is free and gives you paid tooling for the duration of your studies. This step can wait until you have the ID; nothing else depends on it. Work down Part 2 and tick these off along the way: - `uv` installed —`uv --version` (in the terminal) prints a version number - Git installed — `git --version` (in the terminal) prints a version number - VS Code installed and opens - VS Code Python extension installed - VS Code Jupyter extension installed - GitHub account created - CEU email added and verified on the account - Two-factor authentication on, recovery codes saved - Course repos cloned and synced (Part 3) - The check prints `SETUP OK` in all five folders (Part 3) - Student Developer Pack applied for — *once you have your CEU ID* Follow **only** the section for your own system, then continue to "Both extensions" at the end of this part. **Open PowerShell.** Press the Start button, type `PowerShell`, and open **Windows PowerShell**. **1. Install uv** ``` powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex" ``` **Close PowerShell and open it again** — this is required, the command will not be found until you do. Then check: ``` uv --version ``` **2. Install Git** ``` winget install --id Git.Git -e --source winget ``` If `winget` is not available, download the installer from [git-scm.com/downloads](https://git-scm.com/downloads) and accept the default options. Close and reopen PowerShell, then check: ``` git --version ``` **3. Install VS Code** ``` winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudioCode -e --source winget ``` Or download it from [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com/Download). **Open Terminal.** Press `Cmd + Space`, type `Terminal`, press Enter. **1. Install uv** ``` curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh ``` **Close Terminal and open it again**, then check: ``` uv --version ``` **2. Install Git** macOS ships with Git, but the first run may prompt you to install Apple's developer tools. Run: ``` git --version ``` If a dialog appears offering to install the command line developer tools, accept it and wait for it to finish. If nothing happens and you see a version number, Git is already there. **3. Install VS Code** Download from [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com/Download), unzip it, and drag **Visual Studio Code** into your **Applications** folder. **1. Install uv** ``` curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh ``` Close and reopen the terminal, then check: ``` uv --version ``` **2. Install Git** ``` sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y git git --version ``` **3. Install VS Code** Download the `.deb` package from [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com/Download) and install it, or use your distribution's software centre. Open VS Code. Click the **Extensions** icon in the left sidebar (four small squares), then search for and install: - **Python** (published by Microsoft) - **Jupyter** (published by Microsoft) Both are needed to run course notebooks. Cloning every course repo now is the real test. It is also the point of doing this early: if something is going to fail, it fails here, in front of someone who can fix it, rather than in week one. Pick one place to keep all course materials. **macOS / Linux:** ``` mkdir -p ~/ceu cd ~/ceu ``` **Windows PowerShell:** ``` mkdir $HOME\ceu cd $HOME\ceu ``` | Course | Clone command | |---|---| | Coding 1 | `git clone https://github.com/ulrichwohak/Coding-1-Introduction-to-Python.git` | | Coding 2 | `git clone https://github.com/ulrichwohak/Coding-2-Python-for-Data-Analysis.git` | | Data Analysis 1 and 2 | `git clone https://github.com/gabors-data-analysis/da_case_studies.git` | | Data Visualization 1 | `git clone https://github.com/ulrichwohak/Python-Dataviz.git` | | Data Engineering 1 | `git clone https://github.com/zoltanctoth/ceu-cloud-class.git` | From inside your `ceu` folder, run the clone command for a course, then move into the folder it created and set up the environment: ``` git clone https://github.com/ulrichwohak/Coding-1-Introduction-to-Python.git cd Coding-1-Introduction-to-Python uv sync cd .. ``` `git clone` downloads the materials. `uv sync` reads that project's lock file and installs the exact Python version and packages it needs — the first run takes a few minutes, later ones are fast. `cd ..` returns you to the `ceu` folder, ready for the next course. Repeat for all five rows. Straight after `uv sync` finishes in a folder, run this: ``` python uv run python -c "import sys; from importlib.metadata import distributions; print('Python', sys.version.split()[0]); print('Packages', len(list(distributions()))); print('SETUP OK')" ``` You should get three lines. In the Coding 1 folder they look like this: ``` Python 3.12.13 Packages 124 SETUP OK ``` The Python version and the package count are **different for each course**, and that is exactly right: each course gets its own Python and its own packages, which is the whole reason we use `uv`. Do not worry about the numbers — what matters is the last line. **If you see `SETUP OK` in all five folders, your setup works. You are done.** If a folder gives an error instead, note which folder and what the error says, and bring that to the setup session. **`uv: command not found` or `'uv' is not recognized`** You did not close and reopen the terminal after installing. Do that first — it fixes this almost every time. If it persists, restart your computer. **`git: command not found`** Same cause, same fix: reopen the terminal. **`uv sync` fails on one repo but works on others** That repo has a problem, not your machine. Note which one, and move on. **Permission denied when installing on Windows** Right-click PowerShell and choose **Run as administrator**, then try again. 1. Try to resolve it with AI. 2. Still stuck? Write to Ulrich Wohak [WohakU@ceu.edu](mailto:WohakU@ceu.edu) . 3. Bring it to the setup session - that is what it is for. Come to the session having tried with a specific error message, if any.